By Chad Waller | Director of Communications and Sports Information and Media Services

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box score) No. 5 seed Carroll (Mont.) advanced to the second round of the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship with a 99-82 win over No. 4-seeded Peru State (Neb.). The Saints will face No. 1-seeded LSU Alexandria (La.) on Friday, March 18 at 6:15 p.m. CDT.

Ryan Imhoff led six Carroll players in double figures with 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds and three assists, while Match Burnham added 19 points and three rebounds. Lorel Johnson recorded 12 points, Ife Kalejaiye tallied 11 points, and Zach Taylor joined Oliver Carr with 10 points apiece.

“Anybody that really loves the game just saw a beautiful game with beautiful passing, and that is what you have to do against a very strong, very talented team like Peru State,” said Carroll head coach Carson Cunningham. “We’ve faced so many different styles in the Frontier (Conference). We’ve faced press, we’ve faced zones, we’ve faced man and that helped us a lot against a team we haven’t seen before.”

Carroll (22-9) led wire-to-wire to earn its first win in the National Championship since 2011, racing to a 10-2 lead 4:08 into the game. The lead was pushed to 14 points at the midway point of the opening half after Imhoff set up Kalejaiye for a bucket in the paint before scoring twice himself, the second of which turning into a conventional three-point play.

Peru State went to work inside with Riak Bol scoring in the lane, followed by field goals on three-straight possessions by Kris Frazier to cut the 14-point margin in half. However, the Saints responded with eight-straight points to take a 15-point lead and took a 22-point cushion into half as Imhoff converted a three-pointer just before the horn.

Carroll kept its lead near 20 points for the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Peru State made one final charge. A 10-0 run by the Bobcats again halved the deficit, but the Saints had one final answer with an 8-0 spurt of its own to put the game away.

"Obviously we’re disappointed on today’s game, but credit Carroll for their excellent shooting,” said Peru State head coach Eric Behrens. “I am very proud of this team and their efforts and thanked the seniors for getting 40 wins in two years, which has helped bring a resurgence to Bobcat basketball.”

Carroll shot 56.1 percent from the field (32 of 57) and was an efficient 8 of 15 (.533) from three-point range as well as 27 of 33 (.818) from the free throw line. The Saints also enjoyed a 37-32 rebounding advantage and had six different players record at least one assist. Peru State shot 44.4 percent (28 of 63) overall that included an 8 of 23 clip (.348) from beyond the arc.

Corday Sims scored a game-high 27 points for Peru State and finished his two-year stint with the Bobcats with a school-record 858 points this season and 1,458 points in his career. Rich Shepard added 20 points, including 5 of 10 three-point shots, while Frazier finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Peru State finishes its season with a 22-11 record.

Game notes:
Carroll – Making ninth overall appearance at the championship, first since 2011 where they advanced to the second round after knocking off No. 11 Union (Tenn.) 69-63… Winner of three of last four headed into tournament after suffering a three-game losing streak. … Win in first round improves the Fighting Saints record in the first round to 5-5. … Imhoff set a new career high in scoring, previously posting 24 points on two other occasions this season.

Peru State – Making its 14th overall appearance in championship, but first since 1966 (last played in Division II tournament in 1997), when they fell to No. 15 Morris Harvey (W.Va.) in the first round, 110-103 (OT). … Corday Sims entered with the nation’s most points (831) and second in points per game (26.0)…Sims reached 20 points for the 11th-straight game and the 26th time on the year…With 12 free throws made, it was the sixth time this year Sims had double-digit makes. …Sims entered the championship with the most minutes played at 1,118 (34.9 per game). …He became the 21st player this year to score at least 20 points in the championship …The Bobcats drop to 5-8 in first-round games.